9th international training course on GIS for disaster risk management

Course overview

Rapid population growth and urbanization combined with extreme climatic events are causing a rapid increase in vulnerability of communities exposed to hazardous events. As a result, disasters are increasingly taking heavy toll of life and property. Unplanned growth both in urban and non-urban areas calls for an adequate preparation to reduce the impact of disasters. There is a great need to utilize disaster risk information in planning for effective coping mechanisms of disaster risk reduction.

Disaster risk information is spatial in nature and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) play an important role in disaster risk assessment and management. For this, there is a significant need to create awareness among the disaster management professionals regarding the importance of GIS usage.

The course not only reveals what spatial data is and how it is collected, but also emphasize on the use of such spatial data during pre- and post-disaster management such as during early warning, hazard, vulnerability and risk assessment, damage assessment, as well as in the design of risk reduction measures. The course ultimately hopes that scientific advancement can be utilized for better disaster risk reduction practices.

Aim

To provide an overview of the use of spatial information in disaster risk management

Objectives

Upon completion of the course, the participants will be able to:

• Describe and utilize spatial data, GIS and remote sensing in disaster risk assessment and management
• Utilize existing sources of historical disaster information and elements at risk data
• Apply GIS/remote sensing in hazard, vulnerability and risk assessment
• Employ risk information in emergency preparedness planning
• Visualize hazard and risk information
• Apply GIS/remote sensing to post-disaster damage assessment.

Course contents

The course is extended over 10 workdays structured around the following modules:

Module 1: Core/Basic Information

• Basic concepts and terminologies of disaster management
• Basic concepts of GIS and remote sensing
• Introduction to spatial information
• Handling spatial information (introduction to ArcGIS)

Module 2: Post-Disaster Impact and Damage Analysis

• The use of satellite imagery for disaster relief and recovery
• Impact analysis and preliminary damage assessment
• Building damage assessment

Module 3: Pre-Disaster Risk Assessment

• Hazard assessment
• Elements at risk and vulnerability assessment
• Types and methods of risk assessment, risk evaluation, cost-benefit analysis

Module 4: Risk Information for Risk Reduction Planning

• Risk evaluation
• Visualization of risk information
• Risk information and spatial planning

Module 5: Mini-Projects